CORRUPTION DESALT #OccupyNiaja

Nigeria is endangered with many unresolved problems, but the underlining nature of corruption is troubling. The physical presences of the damming effects of this monster can be seen and felt by even the lunatic on the street, inmates in the prison all whose welfare funds    has been stolen, it has led to slow movement of files in offices, police extortion at check points, and slow traffics on the highways, port congestion,electoral fraud, poor public services like electricity, medical, ghost workers, amongst others. The issue keeps reoccurring in both informal and formal discussion in Nigeria and it will hardly go away!

Though corruption is a universal problem, and it’s as old as man, because ancient civilization had traces of widespread corruption from Roman Empire the Greek dominance to the British reign.  However it is not equal in every society, especially those that allows the rule of law to operate.

Since it’s a global phenomenon, it is then not peculiar to Nigeria, however its apandemic in Nigeria (and in many other African and Asian nations); and this is worrisome because the leaders as well as the followers are corrupt, but most at times hands are pointed only at the leadership.With this blame game on for many decades;the question should be can Nigeria overcome the challenges of endemic and unabated corruption facing us?

An unresponsive public service and a public procurement system (public financial management system) that seems to largely work in favour of “politically connected” individuals, have also contributed to the high incidence of corruption in Nigeria.

The answer is Yes even with the extensive legal, policy and institutional framework for the fight against corruption in Nigeria, though this framework faces a number of challenges including misinterpretation and misunderstanding of the legal, policy and institutional framework, capacity and resource gaps and a lack of political goodwill against corruption.

Before the return to Democracy in 1999, the military were seen as the perpetrator of corruption; though many agencies have been identified as corrupt in Nigeria, like PHCN, NNPC, Police, Government Public service rendering organization, and the educational institutions. And the Police were leading the chat, however with the events of oil subsidy bringing many dirty acts in the oil sector to the fore-front; it shows that the corruption in the Police is a child’s play.

However this discus is not about which organization is the highest, or how we got here but to show that the Nation can overcome challenges of corruption facing public financial management. The pattern of the fight against corruption so far is taking scapegoating and character assassination, however experience suggests that there are risks to addressing corruption through scapegoating and character assassination. For the fight against corruption to make impact, Nigerians general population must be re-orientated to a better value system.Most especially the re-orientation of the young people to a good value system should be a top priority in this anti-graft war.Because Nigerians have for long been living on the survival instinct (winners takes it all).

Next having armed the citizens with ethics and virtue, the nation should then set out to reduce personal gains to corrupt behavior with introduction of sanctions (tough penalties on the culprits). Enacting tough rules with strong enforcement can deter corrupt behavior. The grantingof too much discretionary powers to public officers in position to grant favor to others (businessmen in particular), such as officer who issue out licenses and passports. There is the temptation to be corrupt when the officials who have a lot of power are themselves poor, so their renumeration package should be healthy enough.

With the availability of many laws/legislations to fight corruption in Nigeria (including those crafted by the international organizations), already, what just remains is full implementation. But the most importance is the political will, to fight corruption in home countries as noted by Peter Eigen, chairman of the watchdog group, Transparency International.Robert McNamara remarks at the end of the Second Global Forum on Fighting Corruption and Safeguarding Integrity at The Hague May 31, 2001, is the crux of the matter; that every country has to determine its own priorities on the war against corruption. But each society should focus on concrete actions that can yield measurable results, and publiclyreport whether results are being achieved.

“ARTICLE ONE THE NEED OF A GLOBALIZE WORLD WITH DIVERSITY”

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights—adopted by the United Nations (UN) in 1948—gave human rights a new international legal status.  Though the level of successes achieved so far has not really met our dreams of a developed peaceful world, most especially in Africa, Asia & the middle-east however the glaring positive impact of this declaration in the United States of America and most part of Europe shows that the fathers of human rights were rights in saying that a common understanding of these rights and freedoms is of the greatest importance for the full realization of universal peace and all round development.

For me the most useful article of the over thirty human rights declaration of 1948 is Article 1 which states that: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.  It is the foundation of all human rights.

For over a century, the world in the wake of globalization and industrialization, as being calling for peace and friendship, which is the greatest oil for sustained global community. Everybody in the global community wants to live in peace, no matter their philosophy, colour or religious belief, however the trait to this wish, is violence which is brought about by intolerance, or lack of respect for other peoples culture and belief. 

Peace however has been linked with education, a UNESCO maxim “Since war begins in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed”. We are living in a world of Panasonic speed, yet threatened with avalanche evils.  But article one of the universal human right declarations if taught and imbibed in the minds of the people, holds the key to achieving the intended aim of enacting this rights; universal peace and development.    

The summary of the article is brotherhood; lot of things have made men to neglect tolerance and respect for other people’s culture, religion, ethnicity, colour (racism), Government action, insincerity of developed nations to poorer nations, family crisis and the media, which has been the brain behind most intolerance acts.  Brotherhood is synonymous with unity for a common purpose, feeling and sympathy.   

The wind of change can only come from the heart of human beings. Like said by the World greatest pop singer Michael Jackson, Starting with the man in the mirror is the surest way of recreating our form world into a paradise of joy…especially at times like these when prejudice and hatred have turned our lovely planet into a place of suffering.

With the spreading fire of democratic values around the globe, based on the universal human rights, which can only work in the presence of  the rule of law, and rule of law can only be achieved when All human beings know they are all born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

 

POVERTY AND ILLITERACY: A PATH WAY FOR HIV #CrowdOutAIDS

Oh! What a mournful paradise

I have made the world to be

It’s a paradise that suits my plan;

It wasn’t my making, I was a lonely strange

Coming to town, I saw many paths, all marked with names.

I saw wealth with his twin brother education

I knew from instinct, they won’t be of help to me.

Gazing up, I saw two twin road marked poverty and illiteracy!

Before I could even approach them, they beckoned me from afar!

Come take a smooth ride with us;

If you were in my shoes what will you have done?  

There and then I met one of my life long comrades

They have been of great assistance to my cause,

They have made me stay longer than planned,

Spread faster and almost get to 1/3 of the world population.

Oh! Poverty and Illiteracy, how I wish you remain for life

So that my mission to make the world dissolute is achieved

Please help me talk AWARENESS to keep quiet,

Because she is ruining my plans

Let economic reforms and life skills development knows

They can’t out mask me, so they should keep quiet.

Each day, I wake up, to see more people being faithful

More youths trying to use condoms properly or delay sex until marriage

I just keep asking poverty, why do you leave awareness alone? Seize his funds!

Oh while are you allowing life skills letting off my hook, many young people

That would have been my victims if they have been let to continue with unproductive lifestyle.

How I wish you could see my expression right now,

Not to be like an ungrateful friend,

I need to appreciate your efforts (Poverty & Illiteracy)

You guys are doing a great job in the third world countries and developing Nations.

As it stands now, my stay can only be threatened, if kings and princes of this Nations

Wake-up to the fact and their responsibility of caring for their poor subjects

If those aware, learned and elite joins hands with their kings to bring knowledge

To their subject, only then will my exist be eminent

And if I don’t leave town completely,

I would go to the back burner like every other epidemic that was in town before me!

(This poem was first written in 2002 Oni, Isaac for a CRN competition) 

Never Again

“Sometimes it falls upon a generation to be great. You can be that great generation” –Nelson Mandela (Mundiba)

It was president of the United States of America Barrack Obama who said in his speech at the UN general assembly in 2009, “the time has come to realise that the old habits, the old arguments, are irrelevant to the challenges faced by our people” how true is that word to young Nigerians and Africans in general, never again we our own children forgive us, if we fail to save a dying generation; our cities are filled with many who are not ready to die for a cause, anti-hero, religious hypocrites;  never again should we wait on the west to solve our problem, because they are beginning to have theirs waiting for us to come help them out, the tide is turning to Africa to save the world.

The on-going  economic recession, global warming, and terrorist concern around the world, though the situation looks terrible but we are not powerless against them, the strong forces of hope in the name of innovation and entrepreneurship  are showing us what can be done.

The assault of this bandit on human dignity and well-being demands a youthful response; they joy I have is that for the last decades I saw many young Nigerians and Africans, setting out to this challenges; the time of discussing conspiracy theory is over, time to leave tribe/religious sentiment is now, look at Southern Sudan for instance after getting the support of the rest of the world and were given independence, the next thing is to start fighting themselves at tribe level, haba! Africa for how long; If we fail at this point I do not know the excuse we will give to our children.

The above lines were from my work journal (I was Born here…So I live here…So will work for its Survival) for a decade (2001-2011); however as the struggle for fuel subsidy entered its second week today 16th January 2012, I thought it wise to add my voice to what some associates of ours in the social work sector/youth advocacy has said, we the young persons must now leave the larger crowd and decide what we want after this struggle, is it just to revert back to 65 naira pump price for PMS and leave out the bigger issues of creating an enabling environment for young innovators, social entrepreneurs to contribute their quota to Nation building. We are all talking now, in this huge crowd, where am seeing even the good, bad and ugly, worst-off is that oil importers, depraved politicians, and  their sons and daughters are our cheer leaders; those that brought us here in the first place.

Am not against the occupation, but my concern is with the way we are empowering hoodlums to have their Christmas party on our streets in the name of occupation, cyber activists hacking military network, when we are almost an end users of all social media tools(Facebook, 2go, Skype, twitter etc)#Just thinking!am joining my voice with the many youth leaders that have suggested that we as young persons, clearly sit down and make our own demand now before the ‘big boys’ settle themselves, they might revert back to #65 pump prices, but we our time, life lost, resources and energy have worth the struggle if the issues of enabling environment (Sanction functioning society) has not been created. Like I said above… never again we our own children forgive us, if we fail to save a dying generation.                                     

Where were we? Part 2 #NYSC Reforms #OccupyNigeria

As I conclude on the question asked on this blog the closing days of 2011…Where were we when things got this bad? In between that time and the first week of January 2012, many issues came up that continues to re-ask this question, where were we. However I was commenting on the NYSC scheme and the planned upgrading of the scheme.  As the government continually looks for a better package for the NYSC scheme, through various stakeholders meetings, the NYSC DG and Minister for Youth has been organizing, a thought keeps coming to my mind…

Every year almost all Para-military formation in the country like: the Police, Civil Defense, Custom, Drug Law, Immigration, Road Safety and other Government agencies does recruitment  of personnel; so the question is why not convert the orientation camp programme into organized lecture/training  period about this agencies, after which corps members are sent to serve compulsory in any of this agencies, then we will be sure to have qualified personnel in this organization, this I believe will save cost of an annual recruitment by such agencies, and after the one year service, those that wish to remain can now be absorbed as full personnel of such establishment.

Another idea, which came to my mind, is the possibility of changing the orientation camp into three months entrepreneurship training, after which trained graduate are given grant (total monthly stipends upgraded) to go start-up their businesses and their after become employer of labour, instead of the existing package where corps members are sent to places of primary assignment (PPA), and most of them are not appreciated, no accommodation or any welfare package to motivate them. To many corps members this one year is an unnecessary delay in their destiny.

Haven said, these I will concluded on the note that if the government do not have anything to offer than what is on ground now, where state government no longer employ teachers, Banks no longer hire permanent staffs and most establishment both private and public follow suit, because they will always be corps members; it’s another form of modern slaveries and exploitation of young people, who after serving for one year are not retained but thrown into the labour market.